Do Hard Things. Be Kind to Yourself. Fake it 'til you Make it.

I'm gonna be brutally honest here. I have no desire to workout right now. None. Zip. Nada. I dread going to the gym just about every day. I'm tired. I still have a 2 hour drive home after I workout. I really just want to go home. My goal right now is just to make it to the gym 6 days a week. If I just show up and do something sweaty, I consider that a win. But my motivation is at an all time low. The beauty of forcing myself to go anyway is that I never regret a workout. But I would damn sure regret it if I didn't go.

Ironically, I am currently making a lot of progress and seeing improvement weekly. I've lost weight, trimmed down some body fat and am really starting to see muscle definition. My healthy eating habits are fantastic, physically I feel great and my self-esteem is through the roof. But I have been in a mental funk for the past month and every day is a chore to drag myself to the gym. Since I live with depression, this is nothing new.

Do hard things. That's one of the life mottos I live by. Just do it anyway. Yes, it's gonna be hard, either mentally or physically. But you will not regret accomplishing something difficult. You will only regret avoiding it. But at the same time, be kind to yourself. I've been eating a strictly healthy, sugar and caffeine free diet for 6 weeks. It was getting boring. I needed a break. I went to the grand opening of a local business and it was catered with some truly beautiful appetizers and desserts. I ate whatever I wanted, as much as I wanted. Cookies, chocolate cheesecake, amazing meatballs, sausage, cheese, pickles. I ate it all and regretted nothing. Ok, I had a sugar high and felt sick to my stomach for several hours after. But I still did an hour of cardio that evening and went right back to my healthy diet the next day. Be kind to yourself.

Fake it 'til you make it. My last tidbit of wisdom for the day. I am totally faking my workouts right now. I'm not feeling it. I don't want to be there. I have an overall plan for the week (6 days of cardio, 5 days of weight sets) but when I get there, I just do whatever feels right for that day. But I know that if I keep faking it, eventually I will start feeling good about it again. I will find my motivation, I will research some interesting article, I will reach a new weight goal and suddenly feel hugely accomplished. I know that will happen. So I just keep faking it, until I make it to that moment. Because I know it's on the horizon somewhere. And I know it will feel freaking amazing when I get there.